Espenido staying as Ozamiz police chief: Dela Rosa

August 11, 2017

A police officer who has led controversial raids that resulted in the death of two mayors will be staying in his present post in Ozamiz City until things stabilize, said Philippine National Police Director General Ronald Dela Rosa on Friday.

"The people of Ozamiz are reacting, they don't want him to leave," Dela Rosa said in an interview over radio station dzBB about Chief Inspector Jovie Espenido.

According to Dela Rosa, people are afraid members of the Kuratong Baleleng and Ozamiz Group might sow terror following the death of Ozamiz mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr., members of his family and their associates in a police raid last July 31.

"They want their place safe that is why they are opposing if Espenido will be transferred," he said.

Espenido was the chief of police of Albuera town in Leyte where a series of raids conducted at the house of slain mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr resulted in the seizure of shabu and firearms in August 2016. Espinosa and another inmate died as police implemented a search warrant on the mayor’s cell at the Baybay sub-provincial jail in November.

Espenido received a special award from President Rodrigo Duterte last Wednesday because of his accomplishments in the government's war on drugs. DMS